Graphical History

The Minard Chart of Napoleon's invasion of Russia. It is too large to embed.

Note that Napoleon set off with 422,000 men. By the time Moscow burned, he had lost 3/4ths of them. The retreat was in freezing temperatures, down to below -20degF. One half of what was left of his army was lost in the retreat across the Berezina River.

You can see why the spectre of Napoleon was haunting the German Army during the winter of 1942-43.